Ross Thorburn
8th Anniversary: Changes to Teacher Training

We speak with friends and experts about teacher training and what needs to change. Our guests are David Nunan, Kathleen Bailey, Thomas Guskey, Steve Walsh, Mark Hancock, Marek Kiczkowiak, and Chris Rolland.

8th Anniversary: Changes to Teacher Training
Ross Thorburn
PPP vs Task Cycles (with Jane Willis)

Jane Willis joins us to discuss the drawbacks of PPP and the benefits and challenges of using task cycles for language lessons.

PPP vs Task Cycles (with Jane Willis)
teaching and learning
Ross Thorburn
The Downsides to Speaking (with Professor ...

Students need to speak to learn a language and the more students talk, the more they learn. Not according to Professor Stephen Krashen. For 40 years he has championed the concept that what students should be doing in class is reading (and listening), not speaking. In this episode, Stephen tells Ross some of the arguments against forcing students to speak, something which might not just be inefficient, but in some cases counterproductive.

The Downsides to Speaking (with Professor Stephen Krashen)
Ross Thorburn
Remembering More, Forgetting Less (with Lesley ...

In this episode, I  had the privilege of speaking with Professor Lesley Painter Farrell about how we can help students retain more language lessons for the long haul. During the podcast, Lesley outlines the difference between short-term learning and long-term memory. We discuss evidence-based techniques teachers can implement to optimize retention. Lesley also shares some simple but effective techniques such as recycling content across lessons, building in reflection time, avoiding cognitive overload, and using retrieval practices. Listen now to uncover how we can help our students remember more.

Remembering More, Forgetting Less (with Lesley Painter-Farrell)
Ross Thorburn
Teacher Evaluation - A Double Edged Sword (with ...

Professor Kathi Bailey joins us to discuss teacher evaluation. Teacher evaluation can do so much good, but it can also end up doing even more harm. Professor Bailey tells us about what supervisors can do to earn trust, why supervision and evaluation is important, and how everyone can make the most out of the process.

Teacher Evaluation - A Double Edged Sword (with Professor Kathleen Bailey)

task based learning

Tasks and Interactions with Young Learners (with Rhonda Oliver)

Tasks and Interactions with Young Learners (with Rhonda Oliver)

I speak with Rhonda Oliver, SLA expert with young learners about tasks and interactions with young learners. Does speaking with other students help students learn language? How can teachers design tasks which students will find interesting? And which students should teachers pair their students with to get the most out of group work tasks?

Doing Task Based Teaching with Children (with Jane Willis)

Doing Task Based Teaching with Children (with Jane Willis)

Tasks and task-based learning are often associated with adults and higher level learners. But can we use tasks and task-based teaching with young learners? Jane Willis, author of Doing Task Based Teaching and A Framework for Task-based Learning joins us to talk about using TBL with beginners and very young learners.

Please Mind The ___________ Gap (with Matt Courtois)

Please Mind The ___________ Gap (with Matt Courtois)

We speak with one of our favorite guests, __________ about _____________. An antidote to free talk activities, _____________ are a great way to get students to _______, listen to each other and ___________. ___________ activities can even be used in teacher training. Listen to fill in the _______.

Context – Tyranny or Triumph (with Diederik Van Gorp)

Context – Tyranny or Triumph (with Diederik Van Gorp)

All language lessons need a context. Language must be learned and practiced in context. Without context, students cannot remember or use new vocabulary. You've probably heard these arguments before (possibly on this podcast), but are they true? We discuss the pros and cons of context with our friend and teacher trainer (and former many other things!) Diederik Van Gorp.